Parking meter



April 26, 1938;

C. KLEMT I PARKING METER Filed Sept. 5, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet l CharZz lfzamfi 7 74- 7/14 mlr/ 5742/1/72 C. KLEMT PARKING METER April 26, .1938.

Filed Sept. 5, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 (11km my;

C. KLEMT PARKING METER April 26, 1938.

Filed Sept. 5, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 CharZcle fit Jami Patented Apr. 26, 1938 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

The invention relates to coin or check-controlled meters used along curbs in cities, or at other locations, and of such construction as to be brought into operation by insertion of a coin or check and adapted to give some sort of an indication a predetermined time after insertion of the coin or check. Whenthis indication is given, if the car parked by the meter has'not been moved, another coin or check should be inserted for'continuation of the parking privilege for a like period. If this be not done however, anyone looking at the meter may ascertain that the car has been parked beyond the allotted time and the meter is therefore of great advantage to trafiic and police-office'rs. Theprincipal object of the invention is to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive parking meter which may be easily brought into play by anyone wishing to park by said meter.

A further object is .to provide a novel construction whereby if the person previously using the meter has not used his allotted time completely, the next user will neither gain nor lose thereby, for provision is made whereby any person inserting a coin and operating the control will effect resetting of the time-indicating means at zero position so that he will benefit for the entire period paid for by the coin or check but will not have any left-over" time paid for by the previous user, either added to or subtracted from the time for which the lastcoin or check inserted, has paid.

The time-indicating means is operated in a 'step-by-step manner, for example, at five minute intervals, and another object oi. the invention is to provide a novel mechanism whereby each step imparted to said time-indicating means is performed instantaneously, the operating means being then freed from said time-indicating means until the latter is to be moved another step. By thus instantaneously moving the time-indicating means and immediately freeing it from the operating means after such moving, it is insured that said operating means shall not interfere with resetting of the indicating means from any timeindicating position to which it has been moved.

With the foregoing and minor objects in view,

the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, description being accomplished by reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view.

Fig. '2 is a vertical sectional view partly in elevation showing the relation of parts after the v time-indicating pointer has been advanced a number of steps along the coacting' scale.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the relation of elements when the indicator has been moved to thernaximum along 5 the scale, and illustrating a coin in position for effecting resetting of said indicator to zero position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to a portion of Fig. 3 but illustrating the manner in which the coin operates in effecting indicator resetting.

Most of the movable parts shown in Figs.= 2, 3 and 4 are mounted upon one side of a supporting plate and Fig. 5 discloses the mechanism mounted at the other side of said plate, including a-weight which effects indicator operation when raised and released, the raising means for said weightabeing shown in the act of starting to raise said-*weight.

Fig. 6 is a detail view similar to a portion of 20 Fig. 5 but showing the raised weight about ready to descend by gravity to effect instantaneous movement of the indicator one step.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing' th'e' manner in which the mechanism of Figs. 2; v 3 and'4 and that of Figs. 5 and 6, are connected-' with-each other to cause descent of the weighttoeffect indicator operation.

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional viewo'n of Fig. 5. a

Figs. 9 and 10 are views similar to Figs-.'5 and 6 but showing a construction in which a s 'pring takes the place of the weight.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view on Fig. 10.

Preferred features of construction havefbeen shown in the drawings and whilefthe's'e structural features will be rather specifically e to be understood that the pre illustrative rather than. limitin ous changes may be made with the invention as claimed.

A casing i2 is provided supported "y propriate post I3, said casingbeingp' fe'rably secured to said post by a key It iveted at 15 'to the casing and projecting into s o s g Bin said post. This post is -'p hollow and contains the lower end llfof which the coins IQ for b play, are dropped. The lo chute constitutes a recepta and they may be removed rom by opening a key-controlledgate 2 said gate being indicated at 2 The upper portion of the casing", li'lS provided with either one or two arcuate windows 22 having suitable. transparent coverings 23, and av timeindicating scale 23 is visible through each window.

' This scale may be of such length and so divided as to represent any desired parking period and fractions thereof, a sixty-minute scale being shown for illustrative purposes. Cooperable with this scale is an indicator 25 which is pivotally mounted in the casing as denoted at 26, said in dicator and scale jointly forming the timeindicating means of the meter. The pivot 26 may be mounted in any preferred way but for illustrative purposes, it'is carried by a vertical plate 21 mounted between the front and rear sides of the casing i2, and I utilize said plate 21 also, in the present disclosure of the invention, to mount most of the movable parts hereinafter described.

A toothed sector 23 is secured to the indicator 25, if the latter be loose upon the pivot 26, or may be secured to said pivot if the latter be loose in the plate 21 and secured to said indicator.

-In the present showing, the pivot 26 is fixedly carried by the plate 21, the indicator 25 is loose upon said pivot, and the sector 23 is secured by pins 29 to the hub of said indicator. The sector 23 is cocperable with a crank pin 33 on one end of a short shaft 3| which passes rotatably through a bearing 32 carried rigidly byv the plate 21. Whenever the indicator 25 is at rest, either at zero or at' one or another time-indicating position, the crank pin 33 occupies about'the position shown in Fig. 2 and in Figs. 51 and 7 and provision is made for slowly rotating the shaft 3i in the direction of the arrows in said views, until said crankpin 33 is in readiness to engage a setting the indicator 25 from any of the positions to which it has been moved. During the instant in which crank pin 33 engages the sector 23, it turns the latter one tooth to advance the indicator 25 along the scale 23, and in the present showins, each step'or movement thus imparted instantaneously to the pointer, advances the latter five minutes upon the aforesaid scale.

An appropriate/dog 33 is provided for coaction with the toothed sector 23 to hold it against return movement after each operation, thereby holding the indicator 25 against return to its zero position until said dog is released. This dog may be'engaged with the sector under the influence of gravity or a spring and inthe present showing, it is provided with a weighted portion 33. The pivot of the dog, mounting it upon the plate 21, is shown at 35and the tooth-engaging portion of said dog is shown in the form of a pin 33. In Figs. 2 and 7, the pin 33 is engaged with the sector 23 and thus holds theindiester 25 against retrograde movement, but in-Fig. 4, the dog has been released by coin-controlled mechanism hereinafter described, for the purpose of accomplishing resetting of the indicator- 25 to its zero position. In the present disclosure, this indicator is biased-toward its zero position by the weight of the sector 23, but a spring could be used if desired. By having the indicator biased toward zero, as soon as the dog 33 is released from the sector 23, said indicator will return to its zero setting, being limited by a stop screw 23-.

The shaft 3|, except in Figs. 9, 10 and 11 hereinafter explained, is provided with an off-center 5 weight 31 preferably secured to an arm 33 projecting from said shaft. When the crank pin 33 is in the position shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 7, the weight 31 occupies the lowered position shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, but provision is made for 10 descent of the weight 31 by gravity, said crank pin instantaneously engages said sector 23 to .0

move the same one tooth and immediately dis-" engages from said sector, thereby advancing the indicator 25 one step along the scale 23 and then immediately freeing said indicator from the operating means, preventing said operating means from interfering when said indicator is to be reset to zero from any of its time-indicating positions. Should a coin be inserted in the chute I3 at the moment pin 33 starts to engage the sector28, said pin will have completed its movement and operated the sector before the coin can be used to release the dog 33 and the only time at which pin 30 can interfere with indicatorresetting is when the dog is released at the exact moment the pin is turning the .sector, but this will be only a negligible interference of too short duration to prevent return of the indicator to zero.

For swinging the weight 3i upwardly from the position of most of the views to that shown in Fig. 6 and slightly past this latter position, any

preferred means may be employed. For illus- I trative purposes, I have disclosed a driven wheel 39 having a pin 40 which engages the arm 33 when. the weight is lowered (see Fig. 5) and frees said arm when it has been swung slightly past the dead-center position shown in Fig. 6. The wheel 33 may be operated by a synchronous electric motor, an electric clock, or a spring-driven clock, the latter being indicated at 3|, said clock being mounted upon the plate 21.

In Figs. 9, 10 and 11, a spring 31' performs the same office as the weight 31, in that this spring is slowly moved to store energy and then rapidly moved under the influence of this energy to eifec't instantaneous movement of the indicator 23. The spring 31 is shown of the tension type, anchored to the plate 21 at one end, as indicated at I 42, and connected at its other end to a pin 33 on an arm 33 secured to the shaft 3|. Loose upon this shaft 3| is a wheel 39' corresponding to the wheel 33 and driven in the same way, said wheel having an arcuate slot 35 into which one end of the pin 33 projects. When the parts stand as shown in Fig. 9, the crank pin 33 is in the position 6 shown for instance in Figs. '3 and 4 and said crank pin remains in this position until the wheel 33' has rotated suiliciently to cause the end 33 oi the slot 35 to abut the pin. When this occurs, the wheel 33' starts to slowly tum'the shaft 3| and when the parts have been turned slightly past-the dead-center position shown in Fig. 10, the spring 31 acts to quickly turn the shaft 3|, causing in 'stantaneous movement of the crank pin 33 to operate the indicator 23 one step along the scale. 75

While the spring 31' is shown of thetension type, a compression spring could obviously be used instead and whenever I refer to tensioning the spring, it is to be understood that this language is intended to be sufllciently broad to cover stretching a tension spring or compressing a compression spring.

A releasing lever 45 is provided for the dog 33, said lever being held against said dog by a suitable spring or by weight 49. One end of this lever 43 passes through a slot 50 in the coin chute i5 to be struck and actuated by any coin or check I! dropped into said chute (see Fig. 3). A swingable arm 52 ismovable through a slot 53 in the theposition shown in Fig. 4, thus releasing the dog 33 from the sector and allowing the indicator 25 to return to its 'zero position. Except after moving the pointer 25 to its flnal position (see Fig. '3), the pin 35 coacts with the teeth 55 of the sector 28, but a special shoulder 55 is preferably provided on said sector to rest upon said pin when the indicator 25 has reached the'final time-indicating position shown in Fig. 3, and said sector isprovided with an arcua'teedge 51 extending downwardly from said shoulder 55. If, after the indicator 25 reaches the end of the scale, the meter be not promptly reset, all successive quick movements ofthe pin will move the sector 25 and move said indicator slightly past the last readingon the scale to an overtime position,

but each, time said pin clears the sector, the latter drops until the shoulder 55 again rests on the pin 35, returning the indicator to'said last reading on the scale. During any such movement of the indicator 25 past the last reading on the scale, the pin merely rides upon the edge 51. It will thus be seen that while the indicator is advanced in a normal manner to its succeeding time-indicating positions, it will be moved in an abnormal oscillatory manner after reaching the iinal timeindicating position. This abnormal movement is not only of advantage to prevent injury or jamming of any parts, but it attracts attention to the fact that the parking period has, more than expired. When constructing the meter to move the indicator at more frequentintervals, the abnormal movement will, ofcourse, be more conspicuous.

After the coin or check I! has performed its duty, its further descent in the chute i5 is arrested by a spring and it is then visible at a small window 59 in the casing i2. When the next coin has performed its duty, it forces the previously used coin past the spring 58 and it descends into the lower end ll of the chute with the previously used coins.

While the operation will be clear from the foregoing, it may be briefly stated for the benefit of those not wishing to read the entire specification. We will assume that one person has made use of the parking meter and has used say forty-five minutes of the allotted one hour. The next person, we will assume, enters the parking space as soon as the previous user leaves it. He deposits a coin or other check into the chute i5 and pushes the plunger 55.

which previously held the indicator 25 in the last position to which it was moved, is released, and said indicator being biased toward its zero position, automatically returns to said position upon release of said dog. The continuously driven The result is that the dog 33' Fig. 10, and immediately thereafter either the weight or the spring as the case may be, quickly turns the shaft 3i, causing the crank pin 35 to instantaneously engage the sector 25 and then immediately disengage from said sector, advancing the sector one notch and in the present disclosure, advancing the indicator 25 live minutes along the scale 24. These operations are repeated until another coin is finally inserted to reset the indicator .25 at zero, and if no other coin or check be inserted promptly after arrival of the indicator at the end of the scale, the pin 35 of the dog 33 will merely ride upon the edge 51 of the sector 25 each time said sector is engaged and moved by the pin 35. Obviously, the releasing lever 43 will release the dog whether the pin 35 be-engaged with one of the teeth 55 of the sector 28 or with the shoulder 55 thereof.

From the foregoing taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that novel and advantageous structure has been provided for carrying out the objects of the invention, and while preferred features have been illustrated as above mentioned, attention is again invited to the fact that the present disclosure is illustrative rather than limiting.

The stop screw 25'- may be shiftable into diilerent openings if desired, one of said openings being shown at 23". This is done if it be desired to adjust the meter for a shorter period. For in- I stance, if one-half hour instead of a full hour is to be allotted to the parker, the screw 25- will be so positioned that the zero setting of the indicator 25 will be half waybetween the ends of the time scale 25. Under such circumstances, a shorter properly divided and numbered scale is preferably substituted for the scale 25.

1. A parking meter comprising time-indicating means, driving means, operating mechanism for said time-indicating means interposed between the same and said driving means and. including an energy-storing element, and a member which is periodically moved slowly by said driving means to store energy in said element, said member being rapidly moved under the influence of said energy after each energy-storing operation, said operating mechanism also including means for operatively connecting said member with said time-indicating means eachtime said member is rapidly moved but only for an instant, to instantaneously operate said time-indicating means and then free the same, releasable holding means for holding said time-indicating means against return when it has reached any of its timeindicating positions, and means for effecting release of said holding means to accomplish resetting of said time-indicating means to zero position whenever desired.

2. A device of the class described comprising said energy after each energy-storing operation,

said operating mechanism also including means for operatively connecting said member with said indicating means each time said member is rapidly moved but only for an instant, to instantaneously operate said indicating means and then free the same, releasable means for holding said indicating means against return when it has reached any of its indicating positions, and means for eifecting release of said holding means to accomplish resetting of said indicating means tosaid shaft near said arm and having a lateral projection positioned to abut said arm for the purpose of turning said shaft a. half revolution and then freeing the same at each revolution of said wheel, and a quick-acting shaft-turning member connected with said am, said member being moved by means of said arm to store energy each time said shaft is turned said half revolution, said member being then movable under the influence of the stored energy to rapidly turn the shaft, said tooth-engaging element engaging a tooth of said segment only during the rapid turning of said shaft.

4. A parking or similar meter comprising a casing, a movable time indicator visible at a portion of said casing, and indicator-actuating means'in said casing. said indicator-actuating means including means for moving said indicator in a normal manner until it reaches its final time-indicating position, said indicator-actuating means also including means for oscillating said indicator if it be not promptly reset to zero after reaching said final time-indicating position.

5. A parking or similar meter comprising a casins. a time indicator visible at a portion of said casing, intermittently acting means in said casin I for advancing said indicator to its succeeding position except said overtime position, and means constantly urging said indicator toward zero, whereby if said holding means be not promptly released after the indicator reaches said final time-indicating position, said indicator will be alternately moved to said overtime position and returned therefrom to said final time-indicating position.

6. A parking or similar meter comprising a time indicator having a toothed sector, said indicator being constantly biased toward zero, intermittently' acting means cooperable with the teeth of said sector for advancing said indicator to its succeeding time-indicating positions and beyond its final time-indicating position to an overtime position, and a releasable dog engageable with the teeth of said sector to hold said time indicator against return to zero from any of said time-indicating positions, said sector having no tooth capable of engaslns said dog to hold said time indicator in said overtimeposition. whereby if said dog be not promptly released after the indicator reaches said final time-indicating podtion; said indicator will be alternately moved to said overtime position and returned therefrom to said final time-indicating position.

7. A parking or similar meter comprising a casing, a movable time indicator visible at a portion of said casing, and indicator-actuating means in said casing, said indicator-actuating means including means for moving said indicator in a normal manner until it reaches its final timeindicating, position, said indicator-actuating means also including means for repeatedly moving said indicator in an abnormal mannerif it be not promptly reset to zero after reaching said 40 final time-indicating position.

CHARLIE KLEM'I. 

